Method for implementing a quantizer in a multimedia compression and encoding system

ABSTRACT

Method For Implementing A Quantizer In A Multimedia Compression And Encoding System is disclosed. In the Quantizer system of the present invention, several new quantization ideas are disclosed. In one embodiment, adjacent macroblocks are grouped together into macroblock groups. The macroblock groups are then assigned a common quantizer value. The common quantizer value may be selected based upon how the macroblocks are encoded, the type of macroblocks within the macroblock group (intra-blocks or inter-blocks), the history of the motion vectors associated with the macroblocks in the macroblock group, the residuals of the macroblocks in the macroblock group, and the energy of the macroblocks in the macroblock group. The quantizer value may be adjusted in a manner that is dependent on the current quantizer value. Specifically, if the quantizer value is at the low end of the quantizer scale, then only small adjustments are made. If the quantizer value is at the high end then larger adjustments may be made to the quantizer. Finally, in one embodiment, the quantizer is implemented along with an inverse quantizer for efficient operation.

CLAIM OF BENEFIT TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/814,446, filed Jul. 30, 2015, published as U.S. Patent Publication 2015/0334397. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/814,446 is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/820,106, filed Jun. 21, 2010, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,137,535. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/820,106 is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/427,843, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,769,084, filed Apr. 30, 2003. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/427,843, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,769,084, claims the benefit under title 35, United States Code, Section 119(e) of the U.S. provisional application having Ser. No. 60/395,971 that was filed on Jul. 15, 2002. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/814,446, published as U.S. Patent Publication 2015/0334397; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/820,106, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,137,535; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/427,843, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,769,084 are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of multimedia compression systems. In particular the present invention discloses methods and systems for implementing a quantizer that efficiently selects a quantizer value for each macroblock that will obtain a high compression ratio without sacrificing video image quality.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Digital based electronic media formats are finally on the cusp of largely replacing all of the older analog electronic media formats. In the audio media arena, digital compact discs (CDs) replaced analog vinyl records long ago. Analog magnetic cassette tapes are becoming increasingly rare and will eventually share the same fate of 8-track tapes. Second and third generation digital audio systems such as digital Mini-discs and MP3 (MPEG Audio—layer 3) files are now taking market share away from the first generation digital audio format of compact discs.

The video media has been slower to move from analog storage and transmission formats to digital storage and transmission formats than audio. The reason for this slower analog to digital transition is largely due to the massive amounts of digital information required to accurately represent video images in digital form. The massive amounts of information require very high-capacity digital storage systems with high bit-rate outputs and high-bandwidth transmission systems. Furthermore, cost of switching from analog video equipment to digital video equipment is significantly higher than the cost of switching from analog audio equipment to digital audio equipment.

However, video is now finally rapidly moving from analog storage (VHS and Beta) and analog transmission formats (NTSC and PAL) to digital storage (MPEG) and digital transmission formats (ATSC). The DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), a digital video system, has been one of the fastest selling consumer electronic products in years. DVDs have been rapidly supplanting VHS and Beta Video-Cassette Recorders (VCRs) as the pre-recorded video playback system of choice due their high video quality, very high audio quality, convenience, and extra features. A new generation of intelligent Personal Video Records (PVRs) such as TiVo and Replay have emerged that take advantage of digital video technology. The antiquated analog NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) video transmission system is now being replaced with the digital ATSC (Advanced Television Standards Committee) video transmission system that provides for 5.1 channels of CD-quality digital audio and beautiful high-definition television (HDTV) images.

Computer systems have been using various different digital video storage and transmission formats for a number of years. Among the best digital video compression and encoding systems used by computer systems have been the series of digital video encoding systems backed by the Motion Pictures Expert Group, better known as MPEG. The three most well known and widely used digital video encoding systems from MPEG are known simply as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4. VideoCDs and consumer-grade digital video editing systems use the MPEG-1 format. Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), the Dish Network brand direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television system, and the new terrestrial digital transmission system known as ATSC use the MPEG-2 digital video compression and encoding system. MPEG-4 system was originally developed for small mobile devices. However technology from the MPEG-4 system is rapidly being adapted by new computer based digital video encoders and digital video players.

The MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 standards compress a series of video frames and encode the compressed frames into a digital bit stream. When encoding a video frame with the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 systems, the video frame is divided into a rectangular grid of macroblocks. Each macroblock in the video frame is independently compressed and encoded.

When compressing the macroblocks from a video frame, an MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 encoder uses a quantizer that selects a quantizer value (q) that is used to quantize individual numeric values in the macroblock. The smaller the quantizer value (q), the more bits will be used to encoded the macroblock. In order to efficiently compress macroblocks from a video frame, the quantizer in a digital video encoding system must be able to select an appropriate a quantizer value (q) that maximizes the compression while ensuring a high quality compressed video frame.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Method For Implementing A Quantizer In A Multimedia Compression And Encoding System is disclosed. In the Quantizer system of the present invention, several new quantization ideas are disclosed. In one embodiment, macroblocks are grouped together into macroblock groups. The macroblock groups are then assigned a common quantizer value. The common quantizer value may be selected based upon how the macroblocks are encoded, the type of macroblocks within the macroblock group (intra-blocks or inter-blocks), the history of the motion vectors associated with the macroblocks in the macroblock group, the residuals of the macroblocks in the macroblock group, and the energy of the macroblocks in the macroblock group. The quantizer value may be adjusted in a manner that is dependent on the current quantizer value. Specifically, if the quantizer value is at the low end of the quantizer scale, then only small adjustments are made. If the quantizer value is at the high end then larger adjustments may be made to the quantizer. Finally, in one embodiment, the quantizer is implemented along with an inverse quantizer for efficient operation.

Other objects, features, and advantages of present invention will be apparent from the company drawings and from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art, in view of the following detailed description in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a digital video encoder.

FIG. 2a illustrates a video frame that has been divided into a matrix of macroblocks.

FIG. 2b illustrates the video frame of FIG. 2a wherein all the macroblocks from the same row have been placed into a macroblock group.

FIG. 2c illustrates the video frame of FIG. 2a wherein all the macroblocks have been divided into macroblock groups containing two macroblocks in each macroblock group.

FIG. 3 illustrates a one dimensional line graph with a set of quantization categories centered on an average of the macroblock group SAD values.

FIG. 4 illustrates graph that maps quantizer value to bytes per macroblock.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a digital video encoder system with an integrated quantizer and inverse quantizer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A method and system for performing rate control in a multimedia compression and encoding system is disclosed. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific nomenclature is set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific details are not required in order to practice the present invention. For example, the present invention has been described with reference to the MPEG-4 multimedia compression and encoding system. However, the same techniques can easily be applied to other types of compression and encoding systems.

Multimedia Compression and Encoding Overview

FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level block diagram of a typical digital video encoder 100 as is well known in the art of digital video. The digital video encoder 100 receives incoming stream of video frames 105 at the left of the block diagram. Each incoming video frame is processed by a Discrete Cosine Transformation (DCT) unit 110. The frame may be processed independently (an intra-frame) or with reference to information from other frames received from the motion compensation unit 150 (an inter-frame).

Next, a Quantizer (Q) unit 120 quantizes the digital video information from the Discrete Cosine Transformation unit 110. Finally, the quantized frame information is then encoded with an entropy encoder (H) unit 180 to produce a final encoded bit stream.

Since an inter-frame encoded video frame is defined with reference to other nearby video frames, the digital video encoder 100 needs to create a copy of how each digital video frame will appear within a digital video decoder such that inter-frames may be encoded. Thus the lower portion of the digital video encoder 100 is essentially the same as a digital video decoder unit. Specifically, an Inverse quantizer (Q⁻¹) 130 first reverses the quantization of the frame information. Next, an inverse Discrete Cosine Transformation (DCT⁻¹) unit 140 reverses the Discrete Cosine Transformation of the frame information. After all the DCT coefficients are reconstructed from iDCT, the motion compensation unit will use the information, along with the motion vectors, to reconstruct the video frame. The reconstructed video frame may then be used as a reference frame for the motion estimation of other video frames.

The reconstructed video frame may then be used to encode inter-frames that are defined relative to information in the reconstructed video frame. Specifically, a motion compensation (MC) unit 150 and a motion estimation (ME) unit 160 are used to determine motion vectors and generate differential values used to encode inter-frames based upon the reconstructed video frame.

A rate controller 190 in a digital video encoder 100 receives information from many different components of the digital video encoder 100. The rate controller 190 uses the information to allocate a hit budget for each video frame to be encoded. The bit budget should be allocated in a manner that will generate the highest quality digital video bit stream that that complies with a specified set of restrictions. Specifically, the rate controller 190 attempts generate the highest quality compressed video stream without overflowing buffers of a digital video decoding unit (exceeding the amount of available memory by sending more information than can be stored) or underflowing buffers (not sending frames fast enough such that the digital video decoding unit runs out of video frames to display).

Macroblocks and Quantization

In MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video encoding systems, the video frame is divided into a rectangular grid of ‘macroblocks’ wherein each macroblock represents a small rectangular area of the video frame. FIG. 2a illustrates a video frame that has been divided into a matrix of macroblocks. In an MPEG-4 video encoding systems, the macroblocks each contain a 16×16 matrix of pixels. The macroblocks in FIG. 2a are sequentially numbered starting from the upper left corner and scanning across horizontally and then down to the next sequential row.

As set forth in the previous section, the macroblocks in a MPEG-4 system are first processed by a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) unit 110. Next, the results from the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) unit 110 are then quantized by a Quantizer unit 120 to reduce the amount of information needed to represent the macroblock. The Quantizer unit 120 selects a quantizer value (q) that will be used to quantize a particular macroblock.

In some digital video encoding systems, the quantizer value (q) used for a particular macroblock can only change a very limited amount from the quantizer value (q) used by the previous adjacent macroblock. Specifically, in MPEG-4, the quantizer value (q) for a macroblock can only change from the quantizer value (q) of the immediate preceding macroblock by a difference in the range of −2, −1, 0, +1, or +2.

Quantization for Macroblock Groups

In one embodiment of the present invention, the quantizer arranges the macroblocks into groups to use a single group quantizer. Specifically, all the macroblocks within the same ‘macroblock group’ are encoded with the same quantizer value (q). In this manner, the quantizer value does not vary so quickly across the image. Instead, the macroblock grouping will cause a more steady change across the image. If the macroblocks were not grouped, then a significant quality change might not be seen since the quantizer value may instead react incorrectly to local phenomenon.

In digital video encoding schemes such as MPEG-4, the quantizer values are only allowed to change by small amounts between adjacent macroblocks. Thus, for such digital video encoders it is important to correctly group the macroblocks to allow the quantizer values to step up or step down to the desired quantizer values.

FIG. 2b illustrates the video frame of FIG. 2a wherein all the macroblocks from the same macroblock row have been placed into a macroblock group. Each macroblock row group has been given a number from 0 to 6 as illustrated in FIG. 2b . In one embodiment, all of the macroblocks in the macroblock group are given the same quantizer value.

Macroblock Group Quantizer Assignment Using Mean Residual/SAD

One method of selecting a quantizer value for an individual macroblock is to examine information from the Motion Estimator unit 160. Specifically, a residual that can be measured as a sum of absolute differences (SAD) value for the macroblock calculated by the Motion Estimator unit 160 may be used to select a quantizer value (q). For example, macroblocks with large SAD values (a complex macroblock with a large residual) will receive a finer quantizer value that does not compress the macroblock excessively. Similarly, macroblocks having a small SAD value (a simple macroblock) receive a coarser quantizer value (q) to efficiently compress such simple macroblocks. To select a quantizer value (q) for a group of macroblocks, the SAD values are averaged together to provide a mean sum of absolute differences referred to as m_(g) (where g specifies the macroblock group number 0 to 6). As illustrated in FIG. 2b , the mean sum of absolute difference value for the first row grouping of macroblocks (m₀) is calculated by averaging the SAD values s₀ to s₉ for that row with the formula

$m_{0} = {\frac{1}{9}{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{9}{s_{i}.}}}$ Macroblock Group Quantizer Assignment Using Mean Macroblock Energy

Another method of selecting a quantizer value for an individual macroblock is to examine the energy information for the macroblock. The ‘energy’ of a macroblock is a measure of the frequency of the data. A macroblock with high frequency data (thus high ‘energy’ data) should be allocated more bits by assigning a coarse quantization value. The energy measure may be viewed as an estimate of how much quantization noise a particular macroblock holds. Thus a high energy macroblock is determined to have an ability to hold quantization noise such that a coarse quantizer value should be used. Conversely, a macroblock with low energy and thus less ability to hold quantization noise should be given a finer quantizer value. To select a quantizer value (q) for a group of macroblocks, the energy values for the macroblocks may be averaged together to provide a mean energy value. The mean energy value may then be used to select a quantization value for the macroblock group.

Macroblock Group Quantizer Assignment Quantizer Categories

In another implementation, the various different macroblock groups may be assigned into limited number of different quantization categories. To generate a set of quantization categories, one of the macroblock group measurements may be used to divide the various macroblock groups into different categories. For example, the mean macroblock residual/SAD value or the mean macroblock energy may be used.

To provide an illustration of different quantization categories, one implementation using mean SAD values is hereby presented. First, the various different mean SAD values m₀ to m₆ for each macroblock groups are plotted on line. Then an average of the macroblock group SAD values is calculated as follows:

$m_{AVG} = {\frac{1}{7}{\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{6}m_{i}}}$ The macroblock group SAD values and the overall macroblock group average arc plotted on the same line as illustrated in FIG. 3. Finally, a set of quantization categories are then centered about the m_(AVG) value, the average of the macroblock group SAD values.

In the example embodiment of FIG. 3, there are only three different quantization categories (q_(Easy), q_(Normal), and q_(Hard)). Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 3, q_(Normal) is centered on the m_(AVG) value, q_(Easy), to the left of it for handling this simple macroblock groups with small SAD values, and q_(Hard) lies to the right for handling complex macroblock groups with high SAD values. Although FIG. 3 illustrates an example with only three quantization categories, there could be many more quantization categories. Similarly, the quantization categorization may be performed with macroblock group energy values or any other macroblock group measurement.

Advanced Macroblock Groups for Quantization

In a more advance embodiment of the present invention, the quantizer may dynamically create different sized macroblock groups. For example, FIG. 2c illustrates an embodiment wherein the macroblocks are placed into macroblock groups of two macroblocks each. In MPEG-4 implementations for thin-client systems, the macroblocks in a macroblock group should be adjacent to each other since the quantizer changes on a relative basis. In other digital video encoding systems, the grouped macroblocks do not need to be adjacent to one another.

A number of different factors may be considered in determining the macroblock group sizes and the macroblock groupings. Different embodiments may take in consideration different factors.

One factor that may be considered is the capabilities of the computer system being used to run the video encoder system. The quantizer may first determine the amount of CPU processing power available before determining the size of the macroblock groups. The CPU processing power includes a processor speed, an amount of available memory, a cache memory speed, cache memory size, and other characteristics that affect computer performance. In this manner, the quantizer may select an optimal macroblock group size for the particular computer system being used.

In conjunction with the processing power of the computer system, the size of the video frame should be used to determine the macroblock grouping. The size of the video frame determines the number of macroblocks in the video frame, and therefore is another factor that determines how much processing is required to encode each video frame. The reason the number of macroblock groups matter is that the digital video encoder can not be allowed to exceed its allocated time for encoding one video frame. As a result, the size of macroblock groups depends on both the available computational resources and the requirement of being able to encode the video frame within the allowed time.

In other embodiments, the type of video sequence may help determine the macroblock group size. Specifically, the characteristics of the individual macroblocks may be used to determine the macroblock group size. The method of macroblock encoding used can help in determine macroblock groupings. For example, it may be beneficial to group together macroblocks that are encoded in the same manner. Similarly, it may be beneficial to group together the same types of macroblocks (intra-blocks or inter-blocks). The history of motion vectors may be used to group together macroblocks. Thus, it may be efficient to group together macroblocks that are experiencing the same type of motion. The amount of ‘residual’ from macroblocks may also be used in determine macroblock groupings. The residual is the amount of difference between an inter-block macroblock and the macroblock that is referred to by the inter-block's motion vector. If there is a large amount of residual to encode, this means that the digital video encoder did not find a motion vector to a closely matching macroblock. Thus, macroblocks with similarly large (or small) residuals may be grouped together for efficiency. Finally, ‘energy’ of a macroblock may be considered during macroblock grouping. The ‘energy’ is a measure of the frequency of the data. Grouping together macroblocks with similar energy values may be beneficial. Additional macroblock features may also be considered to improve the macroblock groupings.

Note that the quantizer in the digital video encoder may change the macroblock groupings dynamically. For example, if the digital video encoder determines some macroblocks in a macroblock group are very different from the rest of the macroblocks in a macroblock group, then the digital video encoder may further divide the existing macroblock group into two macroblock groups: one macroblock group for the different macroblocks and the other macroblock group containing the remaining macroblocks from the original macroblock group. Furthermore, if the characteristics of the video in the video stream change, then the macroblock groupings should be adjusted in view of the new characteristics.

Quantizer Assignment to a Macroblock Group

As set forth in the previous section, the selection of a quantizer for each macroblock group may be performed with reference to the sum of absolute difference (SAD) values of the macroblocks in the group. However, many other factors may also be taken into consideration since the macroblock quantization step is one of the final steps in the compression of a video frame such that a wealth of information is available. Other factors that may be considered when selecting a quantizer value (q) for macroblock groups include:

-   -   How the macroblocks are encoded—There are several different         methods of encoding macroblock information. Since some of those         encoding methods are more sensitive to quantization errors, the         type of macroblock encoding should be considered.     -   Macroblock type—When the macroblock is an intra-block or an         inter-block. In generally, an intra-block should receive a finer         quantizer value for less compression since it is not referring         to any additional outside information. Inter-blocks may be given         a coarser quantization value since additional outside         information is used.     -   Current Motion Vector—Macroblock groups having fast moving         macroblocks (macroblocks having longer motion vectors) should be         given a coarser quantizer value while macroblock groups having         slow moving macroblocks (macroblocks with shorter motion         vectors) should be given a finer quantizer value.     -   Motion Vector history—If some objects have been moving for the         last couple of video frames then there is a high probability         that there will be additional movement. Thus, since our eyes         tend to focus on moving objects and the moving area will likely         be referenced by other inter-frames, macroblocks having a recent         history of motion should use a finer quantizer for less         compression.     -   The amount of macroblock ‘residual’—If the macroblocks in a         macroblock group all have a large amount of residual to encode,         then the digital video encoder was not able find motion vectors         to closely matching macroblocks. Thus, a fine quantizer value         should be used to improve the quality of the inter-macroblocks         in a macroblock group having a high residual. Macroblock groups         having a small residual may use a coarser quantizer.     -   The ‘energy’ of macroblocks—The ‘energy’ of a macroblock is a         measure of the frequency of the data. A macroblock with high         frequency data should be allocated more bits by reducing the         quantization value. The digital video encoder may use this         energy measure to estimate how much quantization noise a         particular macroblock holds. A coarse quantizer value should be         used if a macroblock is determined to have an ability to hold         quantization noise (it has high energy). Being able to hold         quantization noise means that the digital encoder may use a         coarser quantizer value but the subject quality of the video         remains the same. Conversely, a macroblock group contain         macroblocks with a small amount of energy should be given a         finer quantizer value.         Limiting the Quantizer Range

In the MPEG-4 video compression system, changes in the value of the macroblock quantizer (q) does not linearly affect the number of bits that will be assigned to the macroblock. Specifically, small changes at the low end of the quantizer scale will cause large changes in the number of bits allocated to the macroblock, but larger changes at the high end of the quantizer value scale tend to change the number of bits very little.

This non-linear sizing effect created by the quantizer value is illustrated in the graph of FIG. 4 wherein the quantizer value q is plotted against the corresponding number of bytes that will be allocated to the macroblock for that quantizer value q. As illustrated on the left portion of FIG. 4, the number of bytes allocated to macroblocks at the low end of the quantizer scale changes by a significant amount 410 as the quantizer value changes. Conversely, the number of bytes allocated to a macroblock changes by only a small amount 430 as the quantizer value changes near the high end of the quantizer scale.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the quantizer takes advantage of this peculiarity by only changing the quantizer value (q) by small increments when the quantizer is at the low end of the quantizer scale. Similarly, the quantizer makes larger changes in the quantizer at the high end of the quantizer scale.

Note that FIG. 4 is specific to an MPEG-4 compression system. Other quantizers may exhibit different behavior but the concept of limiting how the quantizer value is adjusted based upon the current value of quantizer may be used in many different digital compression systems.

Integrated Quantizer and Inverse Quantizer

In one embodiment of the present invention, the video encoder is implemented with the quantizer and inverse quantizer integrated into a single unit. Specifically, FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a digital video encoder wherein a Quantizer unit (Q) 520 has been implemented in the same single unit 525 as an Inverse Quantizer unit (Q⁻¹) 530.

The integration of both the Quantizer unit (Q) 520 and the Inverse Quantizer unit (Q⁻¹) 530 into a single unit has allowed for very efficient operation of both the Quantizer unit (Q) 520 and the Inverse Quantizer unit (Q⁻¹) 530. The highly efficient operation is obtained since the data required for the operation of Inverse Quantizer unit (Q⁻¹) 530 remains in the L1 or L2 cache of the processor from the earlier processing by the Quantizer unit (Q) 520.

In a preferred embodiment, the Quantizer unit (Q) 520 and the Inverse Quantizer unit (Q⁻¹) 530 are so tightly integrated that information needed for the inverse quantization remains in a processor register from the earlier quantization. In this manner, the inverse quantization is extremely efficient since it does not have to access external memory. In a preferred implementation, the combined Quantizer and Inverse Quantizer unit performs only one computation of the absolute value instead of two separate computations, only one computation of the sign of the value instead of two separate computations, and only one load from memory instead of two separate loads. These changes result in a significant performance gain is in the vector implementation where the removal just one computer instruction provides a greater impact on total instruction count than in the scalar implementation.

The following pseudo-code examples illustrate how an integrated Quantizer and Inverse Quantizer system implemented according to the teachings of the present invention differs from prior art implementations. In a standard prior art approach, the Quantizer and Inverse Quantizer are implemented separately:

// Quantize For each row  {  vecRegister1 <-- vecLoadOneRow(memoryLocation1[row]);  vecRegister2 <-- vecComputeSign(vecRegister1);  vecRegister1 <-- vecComputeAbsValue(vecRegister1);  vecRegister1 <-- vecQuantize(vecRegister1);  vecRegister1 <-- vecMultiplyTheSignBackIn(vecRegister1,                 vecRegister2);  memLocation2[row]<-- vecStore(vecRegister1);  } // Additional processing happens in between that does // not affect memLocation2, but may cause memLocation2 to // be moved out of processor proximity (register or cache). // Inverse Quantize For each row  {  vecRegister1 <-- vecLoadOneRow(memLocation2[row]);  vecRegister2 <-- vecComputeSign(vecRegister1);  vecRegister1 <-- vecComputeAbsValue(vecRegister1);  vecRegister1 <-- vecInverseQuantize(vecRegister1);  vecRegister1 <-- vecMultiplyTheSignBackIn(vecRegister1,                 vecRegister2);  memLocation3[row] <-- vecStore(vecRegister1);  }

As set forth in the preceding pseudocode, the inverse quantizer stores a value into memory that must be later reloaded by the inverse quantizers. The following pseudo-code illustrates an example implementation of an integrated Quantizer and Inverse Quantizer system according to the teachings of the present invention.

// Integrated Quantize and Inverse Quantize For each row {  vecRegister1 <-- vecLoadOneRow(row);  vecRegister2 <-- vecComputeSign(vecRegister1);  vecRegister1 <-- vecComputeAbsValue(vecRegister1);  vecRegister1 <-- vecQuantize(vecRegister1); //Begin the inverse quantization while value in register  vecRegister3 <-- vecInverseQuantize(vecRegister1); // Complete the Quantization  vecRegister1 <-- vecMultiplyTheSignBackIn(vecRegister1,                 vecRegister2); // Complete the Inverse Quantization  vecRegister3 <-- vecMultiplyTheSignBackIn(vecRegister3,                 vecRegister2);  memLocation1[row] <-- vecStore(vecRegister1);  memLocation2[row] <-- vecStore(vecRegister3); }

In the preceding pseudocode of the present invention, the inverse quantizer begins the inverse quantization while needed information still resides in processor registers. Thus, the integrated quantizer and inverse quantizer of the present invention presented in the preceding pseudocode provides a great performance enhancement over the prior art digital video encoder systems with a separated quantizer and inverse quantizer.

The foregoing has described a system for performing quantization in a multimedia compression and encoding system. It is contemplated that changes and modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art, to the materials and arrangements of elements of the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. 

We claim:
 1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by one processing unit for decoding a video picture that comprises a plurality of pixel sets, each pixel set comprising a plurality of pixels, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for: grouping the plurality of pixel sets of the video picture into a plurality of groups of pixel sets, each of said groups comprising one or more pixel sets, wherein a number of said pixel sets in each group is dynamically determined during the decoding of the video picture, wherein the determined number of pixel sets in at least two groups are different; assigning, for each group of pixel sets, a same single quantizer value to all pixel sets in the group; and de-quantizing, for each group of pixel sets, the pixel sets in the group by using the same single assigned quantizer value for each pixel set in the group.
 2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the number of pixel sets in a particular group is based on a history of motion vectors associated with pixel sets in said particular group.
 3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the number of pixel sets in a particular group is based on current motion vectors associated with pixel sets in said particular group.
 4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the number of pixel sets in a particular group is based on an amount of encoding residual from the pixel sets in said particular group.
 5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the number of pixel sets in a particular group is based on an energy of pixel sets in the particular group, wherein the energy of a particular pixel set is a measure of a frequency of data in the particular pixel set.
 6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein said pixel sets are macroblocks of said video picture.
 7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the pixel sets in each group of pixel sets are adjacent.
 8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the single quantizer value for a particular group of pixel sets is dependent upon whether the particular group of pixel sets contains only intra-blocks, only inter-blocks, or both intra-blocks and inter-blocks.
 9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the single quantizer value for a particular group of pixel sets is dependent upon how pixel sets in the group of pixel sets are encoded.
 10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the single quantizer value for a particular group of pixel sets is dependent upon a quality measure for the particular group of pixel sets.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the quality measure for the particular group of pixel sets is determined based on an average sum of absolute differences value for the particular group of pixel sets.
 12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the number of pixel sets in each group is dependent on a size of the video picture.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the number of pixel sets in each group is dependent on a speed of the processing unit.
 14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the number of pixel sets in each group is dependent on a memory size of a computer performing the de-quantization.
 15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the number of pixel sets in each group is dependent on a cache memory speed of a computer performing the de-quantization.
 16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, the program further comprising sets of instructions for: assigning each group of pixel sets into one of a plurality of quantization categories according to a quality measure of the group of pixel sets; and assigning a discrete quantization value to each group of pixel sets in each quantization category.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the plurality of quantization categories are centered about an overall average quality measure for the pixel sets in the video picture.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the quality measure for a particular group of pixel sets comprises an average sum of all differences for pixel sets in the particular group of pixel sets.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the single quantizer value for a particular group of pixel sets is given a fine quantizer value when a history of motion vectors associated with pixel sets in the particular group indicates a history of slow or no motion.
 20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the single quantizer value for a particular group of pixel sets is given a coarse quantizer value when a history of motion vectors associated with the pixel sets in the particular group indicates a history of fast motion. 